World's longest high-speed rail line opens in China

China claimed to have smashed another record on Wednesday, launching the world's longest high-speed rail link between Beijing and Guangzhou.

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The trains should take around 8 hours to complete the journey between China's political capital and Guangzhou. That is around 12 hours less than the current timePhoto: AFP

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The launch of the new high-speed route, which dissects five provinces and includes 35 stops, was greeted with fanfare by state-run mediaPhoto: AFP

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Recent years have seen China construct the largest high-speed rail network on earthPhoto: AFP

Tom Phillips in Shanghai

11:31AM GMT 26 Dec 2012

State media said the first bullet train to ply the 1,428-mile route left the capital's Beijing West Train Station at 9am on Wednesday morning on its way to Guangzhou in Guangdong province.

One hour later a second train left Guangzhou headed in the opposite direction.

With an average speed of 186 miles per hour, the trains should take around 8 hours to complete the journey between China's political capital and Guangzhou, an economic hub in the Pearl River Delta. That is around 12 hours less than the current time.

The launch of the new high-speed route, which dissects five provinces and includes 35 stops, was greeted with fanfare by state-run media.

Government news agency Xinhua noted that the rail link "[spanned] over half of China" and said Wednesday's inaugural journey "further [cemented] the country's high-speed railway development ambitions." "The opening of the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed line shows China's high-speed railway network has started to take shape," Zhou Li, the director of science and technology at China's Ministry of Railways, told the news agency.

Recent years have seen China construct the largest high-speed rail network on earth.

While its BRIC rival, Brazil, has spent years trying to kick-start just one bullet train project between its two biggest cities, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Beijing now operates around 5779-miles of high-speed railways nationwide.

By 2015, the Chinese government hopes to boost that figure to around 11,185 miles.

But a massive 2011 high-speed train crash in Wenzhou sparked serious concerns about the safety of China's ultra-fast expansion plans.

All new high-speed railway projects were halted in the wake of the Wenzhou disaster - which claimed 40 lives - but have since resumed.

China's high-speed drive has also been embroiled in allegations of corruption. In November, Communist Party officials announced the expulsion of Liu Zhijun, the country's former Railways Minister. Mr Liu is now expected to face trial for allegedly taking millions of dollars worth of kickbacks linked to China's high-speed rail expansion. Investigators found Mr Liu "bore major responsibility for severe corruption in the railways system."